When no one answered, state Probation Officer Andy Hunter returned to his car and told his partner, "I'm sure he's out on the streets with the same old people."

Rico Echols, 28, was released from prison last month after serving 17 months for a previous probation violation - a first-degree forgery charge while on probation for other felonies, including making terroristic threats and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.

Ordered to serve an additional three years of probation after his latest prison stint, Echols had failed to show up for a scheduled visit at the Athens probation office, and Hunter and fellow officer Pat Hutto went to the man's home at Knollwood Manor Apartments to find out why.

"This was going to be our first contact with him at his house," Hunter said. "He's only reported to me at the office once since he (was released from) prison. Looking at his past, this isn't looking good for him."

Hunter left a note on Echols' door to let him know his probation officer was looking for him, and four days later, the man reported to Hunter's office.

"He came in on Tuesday, so he's OK for now," the probation officer said.

In addition to meeting probationers at their offices at the corner of Lexington Road and Johnson Drive, near the Carmike 12 multiplex theater, officers make regular trips into the community to find out why people are not reporting or meeting other terms of their probation and sometimes catch them in a violation of the rules imposed when they were conditionally released from prison, like drinking or using drugs.

All probation officers must have a bachelor's degree and undergo training at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth to become certified peace officers.

Caseloads for each of the 16 Athens-area probation officers who cover Clarke and Oconee counties vary, from about 70 to 200, depending on the level of supervision that the cases require, according to Westerrn Judicial Circuit Chief Probation Officer Lisa Lance.

"The higher the risk, the smaller the caseload," she said.

High-risk probationers, such as sex offenders, can be required to report as often as daily or weekly, are subject to random checks anyplace and anytime, including their homes and workplace. In contrast, a low-risk offender, such as someone convicted of theft, might have to report only once a month.

A probation officer's job can be dangerous, since many home visits are in the most crime-infested neighborhoods, so probation officers wear body armor and carry guns. It's not uncommon for a probationer to run when he sees an officer approaching, and sometimes a foot chase will end in a violent struggle, if the offender resists arrest.

"I don't think the average citizen knows what we do, and for that matter I don't think even the DA's office and judges are fully aware either," Hutto said.

Building rapport

When probation officers head out into the field, they aren't necessarily looking to catch someone in a violation. The visits are integral to the rapport they try to establish with their charges, looking to see if they can help the offender stay out of trouble.

Elissa Eubanks/Staff

Surveillance officer Pat Hutto goes down his list of probationers.

"Whenever we see someone who wants to change their life, we'll do anything we can do to help them out," said Hunter, who wrote his note to Echols on the back of the Social Security card prison officials got him so he could find a job - another condition of his probation.

"The problem is, there are so many people who don't want to change," Hunter said. "Like in Echols' case, it's like we never seem to get rid of him. We keep sending him to prison, and he gets back out on probation."

Among other things, probation officers try to help offenders find jobs and treatment for substance abuse and other problems, as well as build a relationship with the hopes of getting through to them.

"You get to know the people who report to you," said Hutto, who has been a probation officer for 29 years and worked as an Athens police officer five years before that.

"You come to know their family, sometimes they'll invite you in, their kids will jump on your lap, and they'll ask you to stay for dinner," he said.

Unlike his colleagues, as a surveillance officer, Hutto is not assigned a caseload of individual probationers, but assists other officers in such tasks as making home visits and testing probationers for drug and alcohol use.

Some officers only supervise probationers living in East Athens while others are assigned West Athens cases, and a single officer is based at the district's Oconee office. As surveillance officer, Hutto can travel anywhere in the two-county district, mostly making evening visits to homes, and assisting other officers with high-risk probationers.

Elissa Eubanks/Staff

Perry Smith talks with probation officer Andy Hunter at Smith's Lombardi Circle home on a recent evening. Smith is on probation for drug charges.

Unannounced visits

Unannounced home visits to check on compliance are not always welcomed.

When the officers rolled into the Parkview Homes public housing complex to check on two probationers living there, groups of people began to disperse as the white car with the blue state Department of Corrections emblem approached.

It's a typical sight when probation officers make unannounced field visits, since some of the scattering people probably have warrants for their arrest. While offenders can prepare for scheduled office visits - abstaining from drugs or alcohol before the appointment - unanticipated home visits by their probation officers can catch them in a violation.

The man they went to see this night was exactly where he was supposed to be, however, sitting on the front stoop of his apartment, complying with the condition of his probation for a cocaine-dealing offense to get home by 7 p.m. after work each day.

Elissa Eubanks/Staff

Surveillance officer Pat Hutto checks up on Mitchell Hoagen, 45, at the Hope House. Hoagen was charged with forgery and says he was 28 the first time he was put on probation. "I don't like it," Hoagen said. "But it is a consequence for things I have done."

"He's definitely shown a lot of improvement," Hutto said. "He reports when required, and he meets his curfew," and has been complying with all other probationary terms, like maintaining a steady job.

Cedrick Hubbard, 26, estimated he'd been arrested more than 20 times and said he was first placed on probation at age 15.

"I've been a whole bunch of trouble because I been hanging with the wrong crowd," said Hubbard, who used to make a living selling cocaine in East Athens.

"I was just trying to get some easy money in the streets," he said. "Now I'm working 9 to 5 every day, so I don't have to do that anymore. I can't get in trouble anymore because I have a 1-year-old son now that I have to take care of," and another child he makes support payments for.

"I've got to live for them," Hubbard said. "All that hanging and posse junk - that's over with," he said of the crew he used to run with in the East Athens neighborhood once called the "Iron Triangle," the area near the Triangle Shopping Center across from the Nellie B Homes housing complex.

"Half of them are dead and half are in jail because they were just trying to show off, and that don't make no sense and I'm tired of that," he said. "You've got to use your head to stay out of trouble. It ain't hard doing the right thing now because I got tired of being in jail, waking up when they tell you to, and telling you what to do, and not being able to wear the clothes you want to wear."

Back to prison

Hunter said Hubbard apparently has made a turn for the better.

"Normally, he wouldn't go six months without being arrested, and now he's gone a year without a (probation) revocation hearing," the officer said. "It's too early to say that he's a success story, but he's definitely changed and matured some."

When an officer decides to get a warrant for a probation violation, a "status hearing" will be held before a judge. The offender can admit to the violation or ask for an attorney to represent him at a revocation hearing.

While a judge cannot add time to a violator's probation, he can order a variety of things, from treatment or counseling, to more probation office visits, to prison for the remainder of the probationary period.

One place where success stories are found is Hope House, a substance-abuse recovery center where Athens probationers frequently are referred. Although under supervision by program staffers, residents are subject to unannounced visits by their probation officers.

One Hope House resident is Michael Dean, a 25-year-old recovering drug addict from Oconee County, convicted two years ago on charges of theft and battery under the Family Violence Act. He freely admitted he was on probation for "beating the hell out of a woman."

Allen Sullivan/Staff

Terrance White, visiting an intensive probation supervision officer, has been on probation for a cocaine charge since 2000 and has five years to go. White said he's not sure if probation has changed him for the better as much as growing older has. He has six children and said he avoids situations that might jeopardize his being able to provide for them.

While at Hope House, Dean said he is holding down a job as a roofer, meeting his curfew and other probation requirements. Most importantly, he said, he is regularly attending Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings to keep in check the demons that have led to charges in five counties and placed him on probation "for so long it's like part of my life."

A benefit of having convicts in places like Hope House, according to Hutto, is that program directors report any probation violations.

"He is my eyes and ears," the officer said of Hope House Director Matt Minshew.

Of the dozen or so visits the officers made this evening, at least one will result in an arrest warrant for probation violation.

When Hunter visited the Griffeth Street home of 55-year-old Richard Goss, on probation for a cocaine possession charge, Hunter was greeted when the man opened his front door with, "How are you?"

The officer replied, "I'm not doing very well with you," chiding Goss for having missed his last three scheduled probation office visits.